
Documentary filmmaker.
The very term conjures up a romantic version of taking control of the media and using it for the social good.
You are no longer making stupid TV shows for entertainment. You are doing something IMPORTANT.
Trust me, I understand the appeal
When I was a student at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, they divided up the class by media
Print -magazines and newspaper was the most popular by far
Radio - smaller but still popular
TV - the distinct minority. The adopted stepchild of the journalism family.
Then, within the TV group, yet another fractionalization - TV news and documentary.
I opted for documentary filmmaking.
Always the romantic.
We were then divided into teams. My teammate was Ron Suskind, who would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize (among other things) for his writing (traitor!)
We made our documentary film. I am sure it was terrible, What student film is not terrible?
Many years later, I am still approached by people who want to make documentary films. I tell them that it is a labor of love. There is almost no market for documentaries -at least not if they are made in the traditional way. Too expensive. No network could ever make its money back.
I am reminded of this because over on Twitter,
If you can't shoot, you can't write, you can't edit - well jeez, you have no business making films. So lets cut the 'staffing cost' by about 99% from the get go.
A one time purchase.
Get the phone?